Background/purpose: Awareness of the mathematical skills and knowledge children possess in their early years is widely accepted. This includes various common positive aspects, not only for educators but also for researchers and policymakers. This study presents a systematic review conducted to meticulously identify empirical studies published in…

Qualitative metasynthesis is an intentional and coherent approach to analyzing data across qualitative studies. It is a process that enables researchers to identify a specific research question and then search for, select, appraise, summarize, and combine qualitative evidence to address the research question. This process uses rigorous qualitative…

This study explores the integration of two key ideas and working frameworks: a community of educational practice formed by the synergy between a natural history museum and a university department of pre-school education, which undertook participatory action research aimed at the creation of innovative museum programmes for young children. Data…

Capitalising on areas in which teachers feel most comfortable, the teaching of Biology, environmental education or nature to young children can be an alternative way of introducing and understanding Science. A "Citizen Science" program currently being run by the University of South Australia (UniSA) may be an appropriate starting point.…

This study evaluated the accuracy of automated methods of grammatical categorization ("tagging") of transcribed conversational language samples from 30 normally developing children. On a word-by-word basis, automated accuracy levels averaged 95.1%; accuracy of tagging whole utterances averaged 77.7%. Results suggest that further improvement of…

This article reports data from children aged about 5 years in their 1st year of schooling. Scores on tests of both literacy and numeracy at the start and end of the year were used to derive value-added measures of progress using both residual gain analysis and multilevel (ML) modelling. Results indicated that the school was more effective in…

This paper summarizes an experiment conducted to examine the counting performance of 7- and 8-year-olds. Analysis of variance was computed on counting errors produced when enumerating a set of squares on a computer screen. The factors included in the analysis were age, gender, array size, error type, proximity, and error form. The primary…

This paper reports the development of a discrimination task to investigate the sensitivity of children aged 3-8 years to a range of timbral stimuli. The paper discusses the strengths and weaknesses of other research exploring timbral perception and explains how the findings from these studies shaped the methodological approach of this study.…

This paper describes content analysis as a data analysis technique useful for examining written or verbal communication within early intervention. The article outlines the use of referential or thematic recording units derived from interview data, identifies procedural guidelines, and addresses issues of rigor and validity. (Author/JDD)

Presents an overview of some of the methodology used in a project that examined children's understanding of library information and how those perspectives change in the first five years of formal schooling. Following a description of data collection methods and analysis, a discussion focuses on the reasons for using these particular methods of…

Describes a variety of analytic tools available to address questions about development, including growth-curve methods, hierarchical regressions, and both primary and secondary data analysis of project and extant data. Demonstrates some of these techniques using extant data from two projects to examine questions about treatment efficacy and…

Describes three experiments measuring changes in children's social speech which used the presence or absence of partitions allowing partial visual contact to alter verbal communication contingencies between players. Altered levels of speech and specificity confirm importance of physical environmental factors in regulation of children's play. (MBR)

The development of the Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) sector in the UK and the development of knowledge and skills in the ECEC workforce, involves participants not only in becoming informed about research carried out by others, but in actively being researchers. This is particularly relevant to the increasing number of those reading for…

This report describes the psychometric characteristics and related methodology of the 9-month data collection of the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Birth Cohort (ECLS-B), which is sponsored by the U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) in the Institute of Education Sciences, in collaboration with several…

This report is Volume 2 of the methodology report that provides information about the development, design, and conduct of the 9-month data collection of the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Birth Cohort (ECLS-B). This volume begins with a brief overview of the ECLS-B, but focuses on the sample design, calculation of response rates, development…